Reunion
by J-J-Sawyer-Phillips
Summary: Three years after he disappeared without a word, Killian calls Emma and begs to come home. A Captain Swan/Charming family fic. Feels galore. Prompted by an AU gif set on Tumblr. Disclaimer: Adam and Eddy own the show and the characters, and I, nothing. :'(


Emma sighs deeply before merging back into traffic and heading out to circle back around one more time. The last time she had been to Logan International Airport was over five years ago, taking Rumplestiltskin to find his long-lost son and unknowingly heading on a collision course with her own past. Long years in which her ex-con-ex-lover had been found, presumed dead and lost, and then found again; Henry had been kidnapped and rescued from Neverland; and she and Killian Jones had fallen in love. The difference then was that she was going somewhere, not picking someone up, and certainly not hanging around the terminal for international flights. She can't help but look back at everything, wondering where it all went wrong, what things went amazingly right, and what brought her back here to this place—that phone call from two days ago.

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"_Hello? Swan residence."_

"_Emma, love?" That voice! The one that haunts her dreams and has the power to break her heart—she'd recognize it anywhere._

"_Killian?!"_

"_Aye, lass. It's me. Listen, I know I'm an ass and a bastard, but please…I need to come home…"_

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So after he had told her that he'd booked his flight and was sleeping in the Dublin airport overnight to catch the next plane, she'd promised to be there to pick him up. Then she had carefully set the phone back down on its cradle and sat numb on her couch for a good twenty minutes, only breaking out of her daze when Henry walked through the door with her Dad. It had been easy to slip behind the mask, pretend that everything was normal since her Mom wasn't with them. Thankfully, she had stayed behind to grade workbooks and asked David to walk home with their grandson.

She just asked them to hold down the fort today, so she could go for a drive and think. Telling them the truth would have brought down the wrath of hell and the furies! When she pulls up to the curb again, she almost doesn't recognize him: his usual scruff and beard are mostly shaved away and much lighter than she remembers, and his hair is shorter too. But those eyes haven't changed, except for maybe looking older, more heartbroken and world-weary. She reaches over and unlocks the passenger door, noticing that he only has a duffle bag in hand. He tosses it into the back seat, then slips into the Bug without a word. Emma says the word seatbelt, then focuses all her attention on driving, not wanting to be the first to break the silence.

They make it to the Interstate before his fidgeting stops and his courage reasserts itself. "You're engaged? To Neal?"

She looks down at her mother's wedding ring. On their last anniversary about two months ago, David had bought a beautiful diamond ring for Snow. Who had then insisted that she do "the family thing" and pass it on to Emma. To help her find her True Love; it hadn't worked yet, but she had been wearing this ring in place of another she had worn, one with an aquamarine surrounded by diamond chips set in white gold. The ring Killian had given her. "No, I'm not. I wear this to avoid questions, keeps people from bothering me."

He continues to stare at her, but seems to take her word at face value. "Thank you for picking me up. I would have found a way if you hadn't, but it was kind of you to offer."

It's the sort of awkward, stilted conversation she had feared. What _does_ one say to the man who promised you forever, and then disappeared after a stupid fight about the TV of all things?! Was that something Miss Manners ever covered? "You're welcome."

Gods knew she had every right to be angry, but the Dark One had left him no choice! It was leave Swan without an explanation, or he'd kill Henry and Emma both! He'd rather she be alive and hate him than gone from this world. So, he'd gone into exile, wearing a ring of his own on his left hand—a promise and a reminder that one day, he'd be too weak to resist her pull. That one day, he wouldn't be afraid to die for them. "You look good, love."

"Please don't call me that. You don't have the right to call me that. It's been three years, Killian. Three fucking years without a word. What makes you think you can just waltz back in now? Why? You owe me that much."

"I owe you so much more than that, lass. But right now, at this moment, all I can say is that I'm human. I'm only a man, and I fucked up."

"Understatement of the last half-decade." That was the last thing she said to him for a while, both of them content to watch the Maine countryside pass them by. It was only when she parked the old yellow car on Main Street that she seemed ready to say anything again. "Look, a lot has happened since you left. Well… I don't know how else to say this, but Rumplestiltskin is dead."

Killian's head whips toward her at this news. "What?! Dead?! How? When?"

"Calm down! Neal… Neal _did_ come back—Tamara sent him to the Enchanted Forest with that portal. He wanted me back, but I—I refused. I think he believed that we were True Loves, that we were destined for each other. He didn't take my rejection well, or the fact that my magic is as strong as it is. So… He killed his father and became the Dark One. And I had to put him down."

She grips the wheel tighter, trying not to see the shock on his face. "You mean, you went up against the unholy powers of the Dark One, and won?! Gods above and below, lass!"

Her pulls her against him and kisses her gently, but persuasively. She's missed him so much over the last three years that she allows it, although tears pour down her cheeks. And then she registers, as his lips trace along her neck that he keeps whispering the same phrase, over and over: I'm sorry. She pushes him away, not roughly, but hard enough that he knows she means business. "Be specific here, Killian. What are you sorry for?"

"Yell at me, curse me all you like, Swan! I'm sorry I doubted you. The day I left, I only did it because Rumplestiltskin promised he would butcher you and Henry before my eyes if I didn't leave. I had already lost one love because of him; I wasn't going to let my True Love _and_ her son die when I could do anything to prevent it! Every day, I've worn this ring, as a promise to keep you safe; but I'm a selfish man, Emma, and I couldn't bear it any longer. When I heard your voice—gods, I felt whole and alive again. I've been dead without you. I'm sorry I doubted your abilities; I'm sorry I doubted us! Please, let me grovel for the next three years and more to make it up to you, only please tell me that I still have a chance."

She grips the steering wheel tighter. Her superpower clears him completely, causing her to sag with relief. Emma leans forward, as if she's going to kiss him, but then slaps him upside the head. "Oi! Bloody hell, woman!"

"That was for doubting me, although, Neal almost did win. But don't you get it, you idiot?! I would have been stronger with you by my side. I would have had tw—so much more to fight for. I might have had to face down Rumplestiltskin instead of Neal, but we would have defeated him together. And you'd better bet you have some groveling and making up to do!"Before he can respond, she plunders his mouth in a ravishing kiss, leaving him breathless and witless, but so full of happiness where only misery had been before. She pulls away, looking at him coyly and getting out of the car.

When she walks around to the front door, she grabs his hand. "Look. What's done is done, but if you're serious then let's keep the truth between you and me. To everyone else who asks, Gold cursed you with amnesia, and you just got your memory back agreed?"

At his enthusiastic nod, followed by another long, lingering kiss, Emma leads him up the stairs with a beautiful, joyous smile on her face. But then she bites her lip with a worried expression crossing her features. "There's something… I need you to meet someone, Killian."

His heart plummets, landing somewhere at his feet. She opens the door, dragging him along with her. "You did get engaged! Or you married someone! Bloody hell, Swan if this is your idea of a joke!"

"Killian?!"

"Hook?!" Both of her parents are sitting on the couch, but jump to their feet when they see who walks in with their daughter.

"Dad! Don't even think about it! Mom! Stop think about it! He didn't have a choice! Remember how odd it was that the _very day_ Killian disappears, Neal somehow magically _reappears_? It was Gold! Meddling as always. But please, save it for now." She looks at both of them in the eye and holds out her hands in a placating gesture. Then Emma reaches down to the couch and picks up a blanket wrapped bundle. He senses a difference in her posture and a softening in her whole body. "_This_ is who I want you to meet. This is Adam Killian James; he's your son."

He's staring at the small boy in her arms, clearly a toddler and no longer an infant. Black, unruly curls sit in a mop on the child's head, much like his own used to until he learned to tame them as an adult. Sleepy, yet curious green eyes peek at him over the top of the blanket, and Killian can't stop the tears that trail down his face. She can't stop hers either, when she sees the pure joy and love that instantly lights up his face. Adam reaches out a chubby arm to wave at the perfect stranger who already adores him, and Killian just can't bear it any longer. He wraps his son and the mother of his child in his arms, sobbing as he hasn't ever done in all his memory. "I'm so sorry, lad. I'm so sorry, Emma. But I swear I am never going to leave you alone, ever again."


End file.
